I've had the pleasure of collaborating with GKW Architects and they are truly exceptional. Gordon…read moreand Jenny are incredibly easy to work with, highly knowledgeable, and their leadership is clearly reflected throughout the entire team. Communication is always seamless, organized, and proactive, making coordination effortless. As a Porcelanosa Representative, what consistently stands out is their attention to detail. Every design is thoughtfully developed with a strong balance of aesthetics, functionality, and constructability. Whether they're providing architectural design, general contracting, project management, or guiding clients through the entire building process, GKW approaches every project with the highest level of professionalism and care. It's clear that their clients are at the center of everything they do. They take the time to understand each client's vision, communicate throughout the process, and deliver results that exceed expectations. Their collaborative approach, commitment to quality, and genuine passion for their work make them an outstanding partner. Based on my experience collaborating with their team, I highly recommend GKW to anyone looking for a firm that can expertly guide a project from concept to completion.

GKW Architects has a wonderful team ready to help and serve you. I have worked closely with them…read morefor the last year designing and developing my project. I have had nothing but a positive experience. Everyone is professional, helpful, and easy to communicate with. The commitment to seeing the project through with a strong background in working with the City of Los Gatos was extremely helpful . Homeowner

The work that W-M did for us was good & VERY expensive. However when we had a 2nd job done by them…read morethe money estimated and the money billed was quite different and a shock to the pocketbook. After that - I can only pass on to others to look elsewhere. There are many other designers/architects that do excellent, affordable AND accountable work. We have since moved and did a large addition to the current house. I did not even think of calling them. We used a designer an engineer and a contractor. There are other issues and I'm happy to discuss if someone wants to contact me.

As a construction manager, I worked with Weston Miles on several multi-family and school projects…read more One of the most important qualities of an Architect is the ability to meet project development schedules and provide timely responses during construction to minimize delay and associated costs. This firm met or exceeded all my expectations in both. I found Weston Miles exceptionally easy to work with, with a genuine commitment to partnering, a strong environmental conservation focus and some unique and creative solutions to problems I would not have considered otherwise. I look forward to working with them again in the future. Allan France Construction Manager

Mr Candeaux and his team do great work on both new construction and remodel projects (his team has…read moredone one of each at my property) to protect my water system (well and pump housings). Everything was on time and within the cost range I agreed to during specifications. His team has also done some minor roof (composite shingle) repairs that they noticed (I did not even notice).

I had negative experience with mike candeaux,i choose this company because was cheap ,but was it…read moreworth it ohh no, our work was adding an extension in the back of the house and when he connected the down stairs he was not able to fit a window so I was going to loose a bedroom because was no more window light, thanks to the firemen that was in charge of sign the paper for the city inspection , he was a previous carpenter and he showed him how to fit the window ( the price his cheap because he make short cut )also he put the molding not matching the existing one from the older structure and he told me and my wife that his way was the correct way,I couldn't believe he said that to us ,so I told him that I like the trim be matched , and he told me that need charge for material again plus the labor to take the molding and to install then the way they math the older one .Also we pay for materials never do that he will care less throwing away materials in my case the expensive siding he cut all the pieces without save any and I Had 60 pieces cut only 4 feet only because he will save on labor installing a big piece.the contract was 28 and he charge 32 because he didn't match the molding so he did it two time (but was his mistake) it's right cheap doesn't get you far.

I started my ADU journey back in September of 2025 and had a tough time finding an architect here…read morein san jose because people just don't write enough reviews for architects. I chose to work with Andrew because he is a California licensed architect with experience in ADU's. He is also on San Jose's list of preapproved plans and ADU vendors. I hired Andrew for his full service plans and permitting process from drawings, structural, title24, permit applications, resubmitting to city comments. My plans were approved after just one round of minor comments and resubmittal. It took two and a half months from permit application around end of December to approved plans in mid March. It probably wouldve been earlier but the city made some delays. Today I got my approved permit plan sets and ready for construction of a 743sqft adu. Thanks Andrew and Mybinh!

We bought an older house in Campbell and used CA2Homes as the architects for a major remodel in…read more2017. The house was craftsman style with siding, narrow hallways and somewhat dark. I asked Andrew to change the exterior to hacienda style, and expand the home...but after getting the first bids in, had to scale down the plans. In the end, we moved a lot of walls to create a great room with kitchen and redid all of bedrooms and bathrooms. Throughout, I was very impressed by his patience though multiple iterations and responsiveness, even at nights and weekends. This combination of service, talent and value is very hard to find these days! Thank you Andrew, for all your help and the excellent job you did on our house!

Peter Ko , Ilin Sheih and staff are wonderful to work with from conception to design even building…read more With many years of experience and deep understanding of aesthetic design and working with state and public funding. We chose this company for their integrity and excellence. They truly believe in the projects they put their name on, there was a point where we were unable to pay for some of the design changes due to a shortage in funding. Peter and his team came back to us and said "we believe in this project and want to get it completed even if it means we have to take a pay cut and due some work probono". Choosing any architect can be extremely difficult and time consuming process, you can easily get entrapped into grandiose design if you don't have a construction/ building background you have to rely heavily on your architect and their expertise, or "word" , with KO they educated me, gave me many options that other architects we interviewed did not have the design ingenuity or creativity to provide. What more can I say other than when you tried the rest go try the best!

When we move to the house, we new it will need some remodeling. The house has L-shaped floor plan…read more The L-wing was a separate studio, with no direct connection to the main house. On top of that, the main part of the house was divided into number of smaller rooms/spaces. The wished was to have more open space type of the floorplan, with center of a living oriented to backyard, which has nice view. After some time self planning and sketching variations of modified floorplan, decided it is time for a real architect's help. We talk to several architects and after awhile narrowed down to two. Eventually we selected Studio S Squared Architecture, with Eugene Sakai as a lead architect. The main requirement for the remodeling was to do the open space type floorplan, with seamless connection to then L-wing separate studio. The solution should look as if the house was build from the beginning that way, not having visible artifacts of remodeling. The Studio S^2 Architecture delivered the ideal floorplan, as this house was meant to be built. The house got the great room, with almost whole glass wall toward the backyard, perfect connection to the L-wing and additional bathroom and an easy-flow floorplan flow. The L-wing became the main master bedroom, and old master bedroom became an additional mini-master bedroom. Perfect floorplan, without changing external walls foot print! Eugene presented us with sketches of three different floor plans. We did not spend more than 5 minutes to select the "ideal" one. Almost as he saw how the house should have been designed and built in the first place. Eugene has vision of the new space, producing perfect solution. If one wants to get maximum from a given space, Eugene and Studio S^2 Architecture is the right place to go. We highly recommend him. J & D

We have hired Eugene (president of Studio S Squared Architecture) to help with a home remodel in…read moreLos Gatos, CA. Our realtor convinced us to purchase a fixer upper that would require some remodeling work to address some of the functional deficiencies of the home. While we were in contract, we interviewed about 5 designers/contractors to get their recommendations and possible budget before we actually purchased the home. Eugene was the only architect who came and brought one of his builders, C.W. Wright Construction to discuss options as well as to verify the costs of each one. During our discussion, he was mindful to listen to the functional problems which we wanted to address and he agreed to come up with a proposal. The next day, we received a very detailed spreadsheet outlining the costs of everything and it all seemed to fall into our budget. Based on their recommendations, we decided to proceed with the purchase the home. The design process was a very fun and enjoyable experience. Both Eugene and his junior associate, Catherine listened to our "wish list" and presented a final design that we absolutely loved. We appreciated their "vision" to see the possible options that lay before us that were not so readily seen by us or other architects. Studio S Squared Architecture's flat fee system also encouraged a lot of back and forth dialogue with the revisions. We never had to worry about costs or expenses as it was all included. He has a rapid response time via phone and email and because everything is done in CAD, we had design revisions waiting in our email inboxes almost with a same day turn-around. We are currently in the middle of building our home, but we could not speak any more highly of the professionalism, attention to detail and breadth of knowledge of Studio S. Squared Architecture during the design process. Because of this, we trust wholeheartedly that he will deliver a wonderful home for us.

Kyle designed my new house from a SB9 subdivision in San Jose. He is very patient and courteous,…read morevery knowledgeable about the city codes, and always responds in time. His design is elegant and efficient, he oversaw the project and answered all the questions promptly even after the project is well into the late stage. Highly recommend!

This is a very long overdue review. We was lucky to came across Kyle's service at the beginning of…read moreCOVID when we wanted to remodel our home in Santa Clara. I don't know how to express our sincere thanks for everything he did for us. Kyle is very professional and super nice. He patiently work with us over 6 months to come up with the most economical and yet practical design and great flow of the space. He tirelessly met us constantly to make sure we were comfortable throughout the process. His experience and knowledge was integral of our project. His price was very reasonable. I would have pay much more for the experience I have with him. I highly recommend Kyle service to anyone.

We were delighted with the work Topos did for us. Peter is a great listener and presented us with…read moredifferent options, made revisions to the initial mock ups per our requests and helped execute on the option we selected. He helped us find an excellent contractor and his team managed our build. We are very happy with the results and the level of service.

I'm happy to strongly endorse Peter Baltay and his crew at Topos Architects as both a design firm…read moreand as a project management service. When my wife I are were contemplating building a home, we approached Topos as we had seen a previous spec project they had done and loved it. Design elements include maximizing space utilization, minimizing hallways, lots of light and windows, beautiful wood accents, high quality trim and attention to detail all appealed to us. During our first meeting when I complained about not finding any good lots for sale, Peter pointed out a few, including one particular lot that was not yet on MLS. The location was perfect for us and I ended up buying it 7 days later. The take home is that Peter has contacts in the area that give his clients access to info not always publicly available. We interviewed many architects and came back to Topos. I didn't like how some wanted to deliver a set of plans and walk away, leaving the builder to struggle with implementation. I also didn't like how some were 'out-dated' - I wanted computer-based models so I could visualize my home before it was built. As an engineer type, Peter and Topos were a great fit. I also wanted a firm who would help oversee the process from start to end and not and not pass the potato as soon as things went wrong (without paying through the nose for a personal assistant). I knew from previous contractor experience that building a home wasn't a cake walk and I wanted someone with integrity who I would work with through the entire process - Peter gave me that impression. Perhaps most of all, I wanted to know I was paying a fair price. I hated the standard fixed bid way of building houses where you're always combatting the general contractor over quality and price. I wanted complete transparency. Topos was prepared to offer this and had multiple previous projects to illustrate how this could be done and what I should expect. I want to address some of the negative comments in one review on this site directly. Building a house is not like Extreme Makeover where you go on vacation, return home and say 'Move that Bus' and have the house of your dreams. It is a process with literally thousands of decisions and over a dozen sub contractors. Mistakes are going to happen. Some people are going to do poor work some days. The city is probably going to say you can't do something essential to your design. Some tiles look great in the store but don't work in your house. Bad things happen. If you don't like a design element, it isn't Peter's fault, it is your fault. What you want on your team is someone that will work with you to effectively manage these things, prevent them when possible and deal with them when unavoidable. I can't imagine Peter and Topos doing a much better on this front. I'm willing to bet the negative reviewer never gave Topos a chance to fix what bothered her. In our case Peter and Topos were very up-front about what services they offer and where we might consider augmenting with our own consultants. Many people hire a lighting designer, interior designer, landscape design, etc.. We only hired a landscape guy and did the rest with Topos to save money. It is up to you. Look at previous homes and see what meets your standards and what doesn't. Oh, the comment about not working hard is absurd. Peter is there 8-7 most days. And, when things do go wrong, Topos stands behind the job. In our case a tile sub messed up the master bath. Peter made them tear out thousands in tile and redo it from scratch. While the sub provided the labor, Peter paid for all the tile out of pocket claiming they should have caught it earlier. This is someone who admits a mistake and takes responsibility for fixing it. For a bonus-factor, Peter is an amazing diplomat. He worked with some frustrated neighbors to make them advocates for our project, he worked with the city to find a way top get our gutters and design approved, and most of all he worked with me (which is no easy task) for 18 months to build a beautiful home. One other thing I'll add - in retrospect I undervalued the importance of working with subs that are beholden to the general contractor for their next job. While Topos let me select which contractor to use, there is an advantage to going with ones that they have used in the past and will use again. Because Topos builds a number of projects each year, many of the best subs work from one project to the next (provided you elect to go with them). Because of this dependence, they are incentivized to finish through 110% on your project. There were a few cases where a sub has had to come back many times (often fixing someone else's problems) and they have done so without complaint and without additional 'change orders'. They do it because it is right and they want to stay on Topos' good side.